The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1925. MYSTERIES OF RELIGION

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 4, 28 January 1925, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1925. MYSTERIES OF RELIGION

IF the average Rationalist were asked why he considers Christians enslaved and down-trodden hy priestcraft, he would probably explain that we are not recognised as members of the Church unless we believe mysteries which human reason could never -discover and never understand. Now we certainly do believe in divine mysteries which , we. could never know anything of unless God had revealed them to us, and even after accepting knowledge of their existence we are still unable to comprehend them. "We understand enough about them to talk of them intelligently, to distinguish them from one another, to draw useful moral and doctrinal conclusions from them, but we freely admit that we do not comprehend them in . their essence and that they remain mysteries ' to us always while wo are living on this earth. Moreover, we may add that knowing that the mysteries are true, they ..serve as beacons to us and we can at least refute any difficulties brought by human reason against them. Our position is the direct contradictory of that of the Rationalists. We hold firmly that it is not contrary to reason, to believe the mysteries of religion once we are certain that God has revealed ; them. * 'Pascal described science as "learning conscious of its ignorance." Newton, in the J fulness of his years, said he had only been as a child picking up shells on. the shores of the ocean of knowledge. In the order of nature we are surrounded Iby mysteries. .What endless discussions there are 1 among learned men concerning the nature of j heat, of? light, of electricity, of life, of time, of |gspace; who will tell us exactly why a brown bulb will put forth a beautiful flower what u.ido doctors know about -disease? What do astronomers know about the stars? We know

that all, these natural mysteries exist, and we know that we do not comprehend them. On the testimony! of i our senses, or i on' ; the testimony of men whose veracity.' we can only trust until they are found.out, we believe iall these j mysteries of •■ the natural order. ■ ij Rationalists believe them as we do, nay their credulity ■ is often greater«than r ours, and they are far more rash in accepting as truth theories which we receive with caution. Where then can there be any mental servitude or any unreasonableness in believing on the infallible' authority, not of our senses which are fallible or of other men who often deceive, but of God Himself, in mysteries which we are not able to comprehend? Once our reason, confirmed by our faith, certifies us that there is a God, and once we are certain that we have His word for the existence of. mysteries, the unreasonable thing would be not to believe. We are reasonable and the so-called Rationalists are unreasonable. Again, taking mankind as we find it, a vast number of people are rude and uneducated and they depend for their information on the word of scholars and scientists. .They thus believe things which they do not understand, which to them are mysteries. Rationalists do this as well as others, but in doing so they are doing with less reason what we do with greater reason: they believe on man's word, ■ and we believe on God's. Is it unreasonable for the child to believe the father who tells him what he saw in' foreign lands? Is it unreasonable for the man-in-the-street to believe what the astronomer tells him he sees through his telescope? If'it is not how can it be unreasonable to believe on the authority of the God of all truth whatever He reveals to us? Consider again that man's intelligence is limited, that there are more things in heaven and on earth than our philosophy dreams of. We have only what God gave us and we understand only what He wishes us to understand. Yet the Rationalists,' who cannot tell you what life is or what electricity is, pretend to measure God's Power and Knowledge by the farthing rushlight of their own intelligence. That is not only pride: it is also stupidity and madness. Another consideration is this. The Rationalists reason about things that do not exist: they often do not know what they are talking about, and they imagine that we believe things which no one believes at all. It is exactly with , them as with the bigots who are choked with lies about our religion and go round the country attacking us for teachings which are never taught anywhere. Take for example the Mystery of the Trinity. We do not believe that one person is also three persons, or that one nature is also three natures: we do not believe that one of anything is three of the same thing. We believe that the unity is in the nature of God and the trinity in the persons, which to us is a mystery but not a contradiction. Ignorance of logic as well as of theology often explains the rash assertions : and ! the hopeless language of our Rationalist opponents. 1! '" * . Mysteries are : no difficulty to a ; man 7 of sound reason ! and strong faith. * T The man who is accustomed to find mysteries all round him every day. of his life, in the fields, in " the sky, in the air, in the sea, will naturally

'be prepared for'-1 them f in such 'a ■ • lofty thing as religion. .. The man whose reason leads 'him 'to« God '' and who receives ! from God • the gift ! of' faith ' knows that as ' God is' greater » than His creatures there must be many things in God's relations with creaturesabove j all 'in the supernatural relations which r a mere man cannot understand. • Our mind ' is' limited' and '. finite, God's Power and Intelligence are infinite. Therefore, it is only the' man who knows nothing, who does not know his own littleness,' who is blind to the narrow scope of his views even on things around his feet, who tries to measure God's Mind by his own. There is no end to the irrationality of the Rationalist. If we take the'case' of ! the miracles at Lourdes we shall find that Rationalists who scoffed at the miraebs and asked to be confronted with cures under conditions laid down by themselves still 1 refused 1 to ! believe when they ' actually saw and could : not deny the evidence.' Prejudice is hard M to call,' and Rationalists who start out ' determined not to believe will abandon reason itself rather than be reasonable. '•"'. <X>